Anssi Karttunen — Cello

Anssi Karttunen is one of today’s most versatile and adventurous cellists. A passionate advocate for new music as well as a champion of the standard repertoire, he has given more than 220 world premieres by leading composers including Magnus Lindberg, Kaija Saariaho, Pascal Dusapin, Luca Francesconi, Tan Dun, and many others. His close collaborations with composers have resulted in 31 concertos for cello and orchestra written specifically for him, among them Saariaho’s Notes on Light (commissioned for Karttunen by the Boston Symphony Orchestra), Lindberg’s two cello concertos, and concertos by Esa-Pekka Salonen, Tan Dun, Jukka Tiensuu, Luca Francesconi, and Betsy Jolas.

Karttunen appears regularly with many of the world’s foremost orchestras and at major international festivals, including Edinburgh, Salzburg, Lockenhaus, Spoleto, Berlin, Venice, Montpellier, Strasbourg, and Helsinki. A dedicated chamber musician, he performs with the Zebra Trio alongside violinist Ernst Kovacic and violist Steven Dann, collaborates in recitals with Magnus Lindberg and Nicolas Hodges, and explores boundary-crossing projects with multi-instrumentalist John Paul Jones in the groups Sons of Chipotle and Tres Coyotes.

Karttunen’s discography reflects his wide-ranging artistry, spanning Bach on violoncello piccolo, Beethoven on period instruments, and contemporary works for solo cello. He has recorded for major labels such as Sony Classical, Deutsche Grammophon, and Ondine, with highlights including Saariaho, Lindberg, and Salonen concertos, Tan Dun’s The Map (DVD, DG), and Henri Dutilleux’s Cello Concerto (Gramophone Award 2013). His recent recordings include Brahms chamber works, Saariaho trios, and Colin Matthews’s Cello Concerto No. 2.

Equally committed to teaching and leadership, Karttunen has served as Artistic Director of Avanti! Chamber Orchestra, the Helsinki Biennale (1995), and Musica nova Helsinki (2015). From 1999 to 2005, he was Principal Cellist of the London Sinfonietta. As a conductor, he has led ensembles including the Los Angeles Philharmonic Cello Ensemble, Flanders Philharmonic, and the Gaida Ensemble.

Karttunen is also a founder of Petals, a non-profit organization dedicated to distributing CDs and scores online, and his many transcriptions—including Brahms’s Piano Quintet for string quintet and Schumann’s Cello Concerto for cello and strings—are widely performed.

He studied with Erkki Rautio, William Pleeth, Jacqueline du Pré, and Tibor de Machula, and currently teaches at the École Normale de Musique in Paris. Karttunen performs on a Francesco Ruggeri cello, Cremona, c. 1670.